A little midnight music
by Katrina Ravensden
Summary: It's a time for celebration at 221B Baker street, and also for declarations. One shot. DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Sherlock characters - all rights go to the BBC and of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for creating the wonderful world of Sherlock in the first place :)


**A little midnight music**

Sherlock sat at his desk in the lab at St Bart's and sighed. It was John's birthday today and Mary had organised a surprise party for him, one that she had dragged Sherlock into going to. Normally, he didn't mind; he always celebrated John's birthday with him. But this year it was his 40th so it was to be special. Sherlock didn't see the point; it was only another birthday.

But that wasn't the main thing on Sherlock's mind, no. The one thing that bothered Sherlock the most was Molly; Mary had invited Molly to the party and Sherlock minded. Not because he didn't like Molly, quite the opposite. Sherlock liked Molly; he just didn't know how to tell her exactly _how _he felt.

The door hissed open and shut but Sherlock remained fixated on the specimen that was under his microscope.

"Hi Sherlock" a small voice that could only belong to Molly pierced the silence. Sherlock smiled, not daring to look. He had been so caught up in his... _feelings_, for Molly, that he didn't know how to react around her anymore, and he dare not look at her for fear that he might say something horrid. But then again, that would be normal for him and Molly was probably used to it.

"Hi, Molly" Sherlock forced a smile. She smiled back before collecting something from her desk and leaving hurriedly. Sherlock sighed, feeling like a complete idiot, before putting away his work, grabbing his coat and leaving for 221B to help Mary prepare for John's party.

7 o'clock soon rolled around and everything was set; Lestrade, Mary, Mrs Hudson, Molly and Sherlock were all sitting around, waiting for John's arrival. Sherlock was standing in the corner, looking at his music stand, purposely not socialising in order to ignore Molly.

_2 hours earlier_

"_Mary, can I, um, ask for... your help?" Sherlock murmured. Mary looked shocked for a moment before smiling and sitting down at the table._

"_Course, what it is Sherlock?"_

"_Well, there's a person that, I like, and um, I'm not sure how to tell them without... telling them" Sherlock muttered. Mary gave him a confused look._

"_What do you mean Sherlock? How can you tell someone something without actually telling them?" _

_Sherlock sighed and slumped forward in his seat. He had tried writing a letter for Molly, sending her an email, text message, even tried calling, but he had stopped before he could finish. _

"_I want to tell them in a way that's easy for me" Sherlock explained after a long stretch of silence. Mary sat back and thought._

"_Play a song"_

_Sherlock creased his eyebrows in the way that, to Mary, he looked like a small child who couldn't understand why he had been told off._

"_A song?"_

"_Yeah. Write a piece of music and then maybe write a message under the notes, like a song" Mary suggested. _

_Sherlock seemed to think on this for a moment before splitting into a large grin. He jumped up and hugged Mary before seemingly coming to his senses and awkwardly parting._

"_Thank you, Mary" Sherlock stated before grabbing his stand, music sheets, violin and pencil before rushing into his room and staying there until 5 to 7._

Sherlock played the final notes of 'Happy Birthday' as John blew out the candles on his cake and everyone else cheered. As John cut the cake, Sherlock went back to his music stand and read through his specially composed piece one more time.

He never thought that composing a song for a person he loved would be so hard; for a while, he just stood in his room, wondering what he would say. I mean, how do you tell someone how much you care for them and that you actually do love them in the space of around 3 minutes?

"Cake, Sherlock?" Molly interrupted Sherlock's train of thought. Sherlock gently took the plate from her hand and felt a small tingle run through him as their fingers briefly connected. Sherlock instantly took notice of Molly's outfit; a deep purple dress that hugged her figure nicely with matching flat pumps. Her hair was done up and her jewellery and makeup kept to a minimum. To Sherlock, she looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful.

"Yes, thank you Molly" Sherlock murmured.

Cake eaten and embarrassing stories over with, Lestrade stood up and clapped his hands together.

"Right! Who's for the pub? First round on me" he declared, followed by a round of hearty agreement. All but one.

"No thanks Lestrade. Sorry John, I'm uh, just not really feeling up to it. You recall my last outing to a pub?" Sherlock stated. John smiled to himself.

"Yes I do. It's ok Sherlock, you don't have to come along" John said, getting his coat on and holding out Mary's coat for her to put on. Molly looked over at Sherlock, taking in every detail of him, but mostly his stare; dark and unaware, he was thinking, deeply.

"Um, if you don't mind John, I think I'll skip the pub too. I've um, got an early start tomorrow, there's some students coming in to view a post mortem and so... sorry, you didn't need to know that, I'll just-" Molly trailed off, her cheeks slowly turning red.

"It's fine Molly, see you later" John said, and the four of them headed out. Sherlock watched out the window until they were out of sight, before jumping into action. He started to clear up, offering Molly a seat and another drink. Molly sat and watched Sherlock before deciding to mention what had been bothering her all evening.

"Sherlock, is there something you want to talk about? Only you've been a little distracted all day" Molly asked quietly. Sherlock stopped, his back turned away. He placed the newspapers down on the coffee table and quietly crossed over to his music stand.

Taking one last look at his piece, he gently picked it up and handed it silently over to Molly.

"This is why I have been, distracted, as you put it. I think it will be pretty self explanatory and I know you will at least have something to say about it if not, you will definitely have questions. So, I suggest you read it here, I'll be in my room" Sherlock stated before striding down the small corridor and into his room. He sat on the edge of the bed, and waited.

Molly sat down in John's chair, a hand to her chest and silent tears of joy rolling down her cheeks as she read the message that Sherlock had composed for her.

'_Molly'_

"_At times, it may have seemed like I didn't care at all. I always seemed to give you the hard shoulder; the criticisms, the awkward conversations where I seemed to undermine you, the horrible things I said. And I know, at times, it may have been hard to even consider me as a friend. But you, Molly Hooper, have stuck by me._

_And all the horrible things I did and said were not in an attempt to turn you away; I just didn't know how to say it..._

_I admire the way you work; your dedication. And you're ability to say the right things even though you stumble through them and sometimes say the wrong things in between, surprises me. Molly, I may seem like an obnoxious, self-worshipping, most careless man in the entire world who sometimes couldn't give a damn about anyone else but himself but, you are the one person that I am sure that I... love._

_I love you, Molly Hooper. Before, I used to believe that I didn't have a heart; but now I know it does, because it seems to beat faster when I'm near you._

_And I meant what I said – you do count. You have always counted and I trust you. You were always there for me; let me be there for you, please?_

_Love Sherlock"_

Molly read the last words with a huge grin on her face; he had noticed her, after all that time when she thought he would never be interested in someone like her, and here was his declaration of love in the most romantic and personal way that Sherlock could think of.

She quickly got up and hurried to Sherlock's room, knocking gently on the door before entering. Sherlock looked up from his phone, noticed the sheet in her hand, and smiled.

"What did you think?" he asked nervously, and Molly smiled, because it was the first time she had ever seen him nervous.

"I loved it, Sherlock. But I was hoping you would play it for me?" Molly asked, a small grin crossing her lips. Sherlock smiled more and crossed the room, gently taking the music piece from Molly's hand before taking the same hand in his and leading her down the hallway and guiding her into John's seat once more. Sherlock placed the music on the stand, picked up his violin and began to play, the notes flowing perfectly around the room, wrapping Molly up in a feeling of pure happiness. She listened deeply and could almost hear the words that Sherlock wrote coming out of the violin.

Just as Sherlock finished, the clock struck midnight; quiet bells chimed softly in the background as Sherlock put down his violin and crossed the room, extending his hand to Molly who took it gently and gasped quietly as Sherlock pulled her up into his arms.

Molly looked up as Sherlock looked down; brown eyes locked with ice blue ones, as Sherlock gently dipped down and pressed his lips against Molly's. The tingling feeling returned and both pulled away in pleasant surprise, but not for long, as Sherlock soon pressed his lips back to Molly's; both gently exploring the once forbidden zone that was the other's lips.

"I love you, Molly Hooper" Sherlock whispered in Molly's ear, making her melt on the inside.

"I love you too, Sherlock Holmes"


End file.
